Abstract: A mass-producing filter tipping machine wherein two coaxial plain cigarettes of unit length are simultaneously severed to yield pairs of coaxial plain cigarettes of unit length which are moved apart to provide spaces for filter mouthpieces of double unit length. The filter mouthpieces are connected with the respective pairs of cigarettes of unit length by adhesive-coated uniting bands, and the resulting filter cigarettes of double unit length are subdivided into pairs of filter cigarettes of unit length. These filter cigarettes are converted into a single row wherein the filter mouthpieces of all filter cigarettes face in the same direction.

Abstract: A fixture for workpieces which cannot be directly engaged by the work holder of a machine tool has a pallet for several work holding elements each of which has a head releasably engaging a workpiece and a section which is embedded in hardened casting material of the pallet so that the casting material does not contact the workpieces. The pallet can be a one-piece casting or is assembled of several reusable modules, and it has several mounting surfaces which facilitate predictable mounting in the work holder of a machine tool.

Abstract: Successive filter cigarettes of unit length or multiple unit length are transported sidways on a first drum-shaped conveyor which cooperates in a filter tipping machine with a second drum-shaped conveyor to rotate successive cigarettes about their respective axes so that the rotating cigarettes come to a temporary halt in a predetermined portion of their path. Such cigarettes are acted upon the two or more laser beams or light beams which are equidistant from and angularly offset relative to each other in the circumferential direction of the cigarette which rotates about its axis so that a circumferentially complete portion of the rotating cigarette is acted upon by radiation while the cigarette completes a fraction of one revolution, namely an angle of 360 degrees divided by the number of beams.

Abstract: When a cast metallic fixture for holding workpieces in a grinding machine, it is broken up by subjecting its walls to bending and tensional stresses to destory webs which connect two walls of the fixture to each other, whereupon the walls are moved apart to afford access to the workpiece. The webs can be destroyed as a result of the application of mechanical stresses to the walls of the fixture by a breaking device which is inserted into a compartment of the fixture and is movable relative thereto in order to destroy the integrity of a connector between the walls.

Abstract: Apparatus for changing the direction of transport of cigarettes and analogous rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry has a horizontal guide rail which guides parallel first and second moving files of coaxial articles into the range of a first conveyor having a series of arms which orbit about a fixed axis and simultaneously rotate about discrete axes. Each arm has first and second flute-like conveying elements each serving to remove a discrete article from the respective file and to hold the received article against a change of orientation during orbital movement toward a transfer station where the articles are transferred from the first and second conveying elements of successive arms into the peripheral flutes of first and second rotary drum-shaped conveyors serve to transport two rows of articles at right angles to the axes of the articles.

Abstract: Apparatus for convoluting adhesive-coated uniting bands around groups of coaxial plain cigarettes and filter rod sections in a filter tipping machine has a drum-shaped conveyor whose peripheral surface has equidistant axially parallel flutes for discrete groups and suction ports to attract uniting bands behind the groups as well as to attract the groups to the respective flutes during certain parts of each revolution of the conveyor. Successive groups are caused to roll about their own axes to thereby convert the adjacent uniting bands into tubes during travel through an arcuate gap which is defined by the peripheral surface of the conveyor and the adjacent concave surface of a stationary rolling member.

Abstract: A mass-producing filter tipping machine wherein two coaxial plain cigarettes of unit length are simultaneously severed to yield pairs of coaxial plain cigarettes of unit length which are moved apart to provide spaces for filter mouthpieces of double unit length. This results in the formation of two rows of groups of three coaxial rod-shaped articles each, namely, two plain cigarettes of unit length and a filter mouthpiece of double unit length between them. The filter mouthpieces are connected with the respective pairs of cigarettes of unit length by adhesive-coated uniting bands so that each filter mouthpiece and the respective pair of cigarettes of unit length jointly constitute a filter cigarettes of double unit length. Uniting bands are obtained from two discrete webs of adhesive-coated tipping paper.

Abstract: Apparatus for removing samples from a single-layer stream of cigarettes which move sideways in the peripheral flutes of hollow rotary first and second drum-shaped conveyors has two valving elements which are disposed in the interior of the respective conveyors and establish or terminate connections between certain suction ports of the two conveyors and a suction generating device in such a way that a desired number of samples can remain on the first conveyor and advance therewith beyond a transfer zone between the two conveyors when the operator depresses a pushbutton, or at regular intervals. In normal operation, all of the cigarettes which are supplied to the flutes of the first conveyor upstream of the transfer zone are delivered to the flutes of the second conveyor.

Abstract: A mass-producing filter tipping machine wherein two coaxial plain cigarettes of unit length are simultaneously severed to yield pairs of coaxial plain cigarettes of unit length which are moved apart to provide spaces for filter mouthpieces of double unit length. The filter mouthpieces are connected with the respective pairs of cigarettes of unit length by adhesive-coated uniting bands, and the resulting filter cigarettes of double unit length are subdivided into a series of formations of four coaxial filter cigarettes of unit length each wherein first and second outer filter cigarettes are respectively adjacent first and second inner filter cigarettes.

Abstract: A stream of neighboring stacks of superimposed cigarette packs wherein the stacks can consist of or contain defective packs is advanced intermittently along a horizontal path. Stacks which contain or consist of defective packs are removed by the pockets of an indexible turret which is located in a vertical plane extending at right angles to the path of the stream. The defective pack or packs of a removed stack are expelled from the respective pocket in a first angular position of the pocket in which the latter is remote from the path for the stream, and the partially or completely emptied pocket is then indexed to a second position to receive one or more satisfactory packs which were expelled from previously removed stacks of defective and satisfactory packs before the thus filled pocket is returned into the path for the stream to fill a gap which has developed as a result of removal of a stack.

Abstract: A method of grinding an arcuate (concave or convex) surface of a workpiece in a grinding machine involves rotation of the workpiece about an axis which may but need not intersect the workpiece and which need not include the center of curvature of the arcuate surface. The locus of material-removing contact between the working surface of the griding wheel and the arcuate surface of the workpiece is maintained on a straight line which connects the center of the grinding wheel with the center of curvature of the arcuate surface. The grinding wheel and the workpiece further perform translatory movements in directions at right angles to each other. If the arcuate surface is inclined with reference to such directions, the workpiece or the grinding wheel is moved in a third direction transversely of the directions of translatory movement of the workpiece and the grinding wheel.

Abstract: A mounting for a grinding wheel serves to connect the grinding wheel to the tool spindle of a grinding machine has a holding member for the grinding wheel and a threaded fastener which separably secures the holding member to the spindle. The fastener is surrounded by an annular retaining portion of a tensioning device which has elastic prongs at one side and a compression spring at the other side of the retaining portion. The prongs are clamped between the holding member and the head of the fastener in response to rotation of the fastener in a direction to couple the holding member to the spindle, and the compression spring then reacts against the spindle so that the tensioning device maintains the fastener in form- and force-locking engagement with the holding device.

Abstract: The density of successive increments of a cigarette rod is measured by an apparatus which employs one or more photocells operating with ultraviolet, infrared or visible light. The radiation source of each photocell emits a beam of ultraviolet, infrared or visible light which penetrates through the wrapper and the filler of the rod and thereupon impinges upon one or more transducers which transmit signals denoting the density of the monitored portion of the rod to an evaluating circuit. The beams which are emitted by two or more discrete radiation sources are or can be angularly offset with reference to each other, and the evaluating circuit processes the signals from the photocells to generate a single signal which is indicative of the density of the monitored increment of the rod and is used to adjust the trimming device and/or the ejector for defective cigarettes.

Abstract: Ferrous workpieces are surface-hardened in two stages the first of which involves confinement in a boron-containing pulverulent or pasty treating medium and heating to a temperature at which the workpiece develops a surface layer of iron boride. The thus treated workpiece is thereupon inserted into a vacuum furnace onto a cathode and is heated to a temperature of between 600.degree.and 950.degree. C. After heating up of the workpiece, the furnace receives a stream of nitrogen-containing gas while the heated workpiece is maintained in the plasma that develops as a result of glow discharge between the cathode and an anode so that the workpiece is nitrided. If the workpiece is to be carburized in lieu of nitriding, the temperature in the vacuum furnace can be raised to 1050.degree. C. and the nitrogen-containing gas is replaced with methane or another suitable gaseous fluid.

Abstract: Plain cigarettes which are obtained by subdividing two parallel cigarette rods issuing from a maker of twin cigarette rods are accepted by successive orbiting arms of a first rotary conveyor in such a way that each arm attracts a cigarette of one of the rows and a cigarette of the other row. The arms deliver the respective pairs of cigarettes to a transfer station where the cigarettes are accepted by the peripheral flutes of a second rotary conveyor for admission into or for transport in a filter tipping machine. Alternating flutes of the second conveyor are mounted on pivotable levers or on reciprocable pushers so that each such movable flute can receive a cigarette from the oncoming arm of the first conveyor while the other cigarette is being transferred directly from the arm into a non-movable flute of the second conveyor. The mutual spacing of cigarettes can be increased or reduced during transfer from the arms into the flutes of the second conveyor.

Abstract: Bales or portions of bales of relatively dry compressed tobacco leaf laminae or ribs are dielectrically heated by microwaves, or in an electric high-frequency field, to a temperature not less than 50.degree. C., and are immediately admitted into a shredding machine without previous cooling and/or breaking up. The moisture content of the shreds is raised to between 12 and 13.5% for admission into a cigarette maker, or such moisture content is raised well above the optimum value for further processing in order to increase the filling power of the shreds. The shreds are thereupon dried to reduce their moisture content to between 12 and 13.5% prior to conversion into the filler of a cigarette rod. Two or more different types of shreds can be mixed prior to admission into the cigarette maker.

Abstract: A continuous stream of tobacco shreds is built at the underside of the lower reach of an air-permeable belt conveyor by conveying tobacco shreds in currents of air which impinge upon the lower reach of the conveyor at a variable angle and at a variable speed. The density of various layers of the stream at a plurality of points at different distances from the lower reach of the conveyor is monitored by a device which directs X-rays transversely across the stream and has a uni- or two-dimensional detector with one or more rows of diodes exposed to X-rays which have penetrated through the stream. The signals which are thereby generated by the diodes denote the monitored density at the plurality of points and are scanned, evaluated and processed to actuate one or more servomotors which vary one or more parameters that influence the orientation of shreds in the stream, the density and/or other characteristics of the stream.

Abstract: Rod-shaped incipient plant carrying devices which contain or can contain seeds or plant cuttings are formed from a web of paper and a filler of synthetic fibers and/or particles of synthetic foam which are first accumulated into a relatively thin but wide layer which is thereupon converted into a narrow stream. The stream is condensed and simultaneously draped into the web to form therewith a continuous rod which is severed by a cutoff to yield a file of discrete carring devices of unit length or multiple unit length. Particles of fertilizer can be admixed to the fibers and/or foam particles of the stream, and spaced-apart portions of the stream can receive seeds in such distribution that the seed in the finished carrying device is equidistant from both end faces of the filler. A bonding agent can be sprayed onto the layer to ensure adherence of neighboring fibers and/or foam particles to one another.

Abstract: Filter cigarettes which are transported sideways at the periphery of a rotating drum-shaped conveyor are engaged by successive rolling surfaces of a pair of coaxial rotary rolling members which rotate at the peripheral speed of the conveyor but in the opposite direction so that the cigarettes are caused to roll about their respective axes and cease to advance with the conveyor. The periphery of the conveyor is formed with flutes which receive the freshly rolled cigarettes, and the rolling of cigarettes is abruptly terminated by arresting members which orbit adjacent the path of movement of the cigarettes at the peripheral speed of the conveyor and in the same direction. A laser is used to make holes in successive cigarettes while the cigarettes roll about their respective axes.

Abstract: One side of a running web of wrapping material of the tobacco processing industry is provided with adhesive by a nozzle which discharges a stream of minute droplets of liquid adhesive. The droplets are charged by a first electrode immediately after they issue from the orifice of the nozzle and the droplets of the stream are thereupon deflected relative to the running web by a pair of deflecting electrodes whose operation is controlled by an adjustable circuit so as to ensure that the application of adhesive can take place in accordance with variations of one or more parameters including the speed of the running web and/or the permeability of wrappers which are obtained from the adhesive-coated web.